Aaron Rai, of England, holds the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club, Sunday, in Newtown Square, Penn. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) — Aaron Rai shifted into high gear Sunday and pulled away from a world-class field with one amazing shot after another until he became the first English-born player in more than a century to capture the PGA Championship.

Rai, who dreamed of being a Formula 1 driver until he turned to golf as a boy, was three shots behind and approaching the turn at Aronimink Golf Club when he delivered a performance worthy of a major champion.

He made a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-5 ninth during a stretch when he one-putted seven straight greens to take the lead.

And on the closing holes when the contenders needed him to stumble, Rai holed a birdie putt of some 70 feet across the 17th green for the clincher.

The 31-year-old Rai, who joins two-time PGA champion Vijay Singh as major champions of Indian heritage, closed with a 5-under 65.

“To be here is outside my wildest imagination,” Rai said.

Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Cameron Smith, Justin Rose, all major champions, all of them in position until they were undone by untimely mistakes or failure to get good looks at birdie.

McIlroy, who closed with a 69, played the par 5s in even for the week and he chopped up the reachable par-4 13th for a bogey. He also glared and softly cursed at a fan who said, “USA,” after McIlroy hit a wedge from the rough to the bunker on the par-5 16th. It was an indication McIlroy knew his hopes were all but gone.

Rai, who finished at 9-under 271, is the first player from England with his name on the Wanamaker Trophy since Jim Barnes in 1919, the second edition of this major and the first after World War I.

He wound up winning by three shots over 54-hole leader Alex Smalley and Rahm, who had his best finish in a major since defecting to LIV Golf at the end of 2023. Rahm was slowed by a pair of bogeys on the front nine, and managed only one birdie on the back nine for a 68.